Conservation has become an issue of growing concern. As such, great efforts have been made to limit the waste of natural resources such as water. One area in which water waste has been scrutinized is in toilet use.
The focus of preventing water wasted in the use of toilets has until now been on the use of less water per flush. A float can be placed on the chain of a flapper valve and accordingly, the flapper will come down faster and allow less water to enter the tank and therefore less water is used per flush. Also, toilets are in use, generally on a commercial basis, based on a pressure system which have no tank but work with a pressure build-up to allow water flow when a handle is pulled. Additionally, new toilets have been developed which work with reduced amounts of water to complete the flushing action.
However, a leaking toilet will waste water at a rate dependent on the flow rate of the leak, regardless of how little water is used on a per flush basis. This is because toilets regulate the amount of water that exits the system and will allow water to flow through the system anytime the water valve exiting the system is open or leaks. This situation is complicated in tank toilet systems wherein the flapper valve in the water flow system is degraded by water, ultimately causing a leak.
It is estimated that leaking toilets are one of the larger sources of wasted water. This problem is especially significant in rental apartments, offices or warehouses where the occupant does not see the water bill and does not have an interest in fixing a leak quickly. Toilet Water Regulator U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,120, continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 569,568, filed Aug. 20, 1990, now abandoned, is a self-contained unit disposed in a tank and standing out of the water in the tank.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,916,762 and 5,134,729 to Shaw show devices for metering the flow of water in a low silhouette tank whereby the device is disposed or submerged in the water of the tank and the operation and longevity of the device affected by the water in the tank.
Further, water metering systems that are submerged in water tend to have a shorter trouble-free operational span due to the deliquesce effect of chemicals in the water.
The present invention uses front and rear arms disposed on the shaft of a cam. The front arm is provided with a spring-biased, hinged locking mechanism for rotating the cam to set the cam to a high point and depress an associated inlet valve to begin a flush cycle and simultaneously actuate the rear arm and an associated flapper attached thereto to flush the tank. The front and rear arms are allowed to drop by sliding around the shaft on the cam A second flush is prevented until the turbine has taken the cam to its low point. Water is saved by preventing a flush between a flush cycle and by preventing water from coming into the tank when water is lost due to a cracked tank or leaky flapper valve.